From Guisborough, Yorkshire, Pte Percy Ord joined the 16th Battalion DLI on its formation in July 1940 (Army Number 4466550) and was serving in C Company when he was captured during the Battle of Sedjenane in February-March 1943. He was a POW in Italy (camps as yet unknown) and in early 1945 was listed as being held at Stalag 4G, with the German POW Number 263142. To see Percy Ord’s Army Number in the sequence of known 16 DLI recruits from 1940, click here.
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Special thanks to Percy’s son Roy for sharing this fascinating collection of photographs and documents.
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Percy Ord is sitting at the very centre of the hugely evocative photograph above. The fair-haired man looking directing at the camera at front left has been identified as L/Sgt Thomas N Swan, who was killed in action during the Battle of Sedjenane. For more photos of L/Sgt Swan, click here.
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George Forster of 15 Platoon remembers that L/Sgt Swan was not in his platoon, so it seems likely that these men are from either 13 or 14 Platoon. Also the man at extreme left also seems to feature on this group photo.
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All further identifications welcome. From the sun-tanned faces and lack of shirts, my best guess is that this photograph was taken while the Battalion was engaged on farm harvesting work in the Rye area during the summer of 1942. There’s just a hint on some of the faces that this was not a popular task! The other items are arranged below in broadly chronological order:
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Pte Percy A Ord, 16 DLI, a portrait photo, AB64 paybook details and ‘dog tags’
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Percy Ord, with an unidentified friend. Also included here are some details from Roy Ord about what his father told him about his Army service and a photograph of Percy’s elder brother Roy, who was killed in action with the the 2nd Battalion the Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers on April 4th 1945
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Four unidentified friends with rural backdrop, possibly taken at Winchelsea?
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Norman Swan and two unidentified friends, this photograph was taken at the same time and place as the one heading this page.
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Percy Ord’s paybook entries for December 1941-January 1942, including two pay parades ‘At Sea.’ and several in North Africa, where the payment is in French Francs. Most entries are signed by Captain B Hetherington, C Company Commander at this time, thus confirming Pte Ord’s service with C Company. At least one signature seems to be that of Lt M B Davies, taken POW at Sedjenane, thus suggesting that Davies may have been Ord’s platoon officer. For the second page of the document click here.
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A group of Percy Ord’s POW friends in Italy and Percy with two DLI friends after his return from Germany.
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Percy Ord, discharge document from late 1945.
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16 DLI HOME
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